Wang Lang Staycation

Now that city is slowly beginning to open back up, I think it's time for a staycation!

As a first excursion oustide of my home, this weekend I took a very tiny one-night staycation to Thonburi, Bangkok's twin city which lies on the other side of the Chaophraya River.

I booked one night at the Theatre Residence, a 4-star hotel built upon the site of what was once the Patravade Theatre, one of the most famous theatres in all of Bangkok. It's a beautiful hotel with a rich history, and as the only guests staying there that day, we were treated like royalty.

The hotel is located directly across the river from the Grand Palace, and offers beautiful views of the myriad temples and palaces along the Chaophraya. To make things even better, the COVID-19 lockdown has virtually stopped all traffic along the river, rendering it clean, clear, and quiet... for the time being, at least.

Tourism has taken a massive hit due to the COVID-19 virus, which means that some very expensive and famous hotels can be booked domestically for a fairly low price.

The hotel was almost a museum. Each corner seemed to feature a display from the hotel's past as a theatre. One especially interesting artifact was a guest book which noted all of the visitors who had attended shows at the theatre in the past. There were also old photographs, costumes, and props dating back to the days when this was an active theatre.

Soon, it was lunchtime, which meant that it was time to go exploring. The hotel backed up to the Wang Lang Market. Wang Lang means "Rear Palace". Long ago, this area belonged to the Thai Rear Palace (the Front Palace was once the residence of the Uparaja, or "Second-King", of Thailand, and currently houses the National Museum). The Rear Palace was the official residence of the deputy to the Uparaja, however the position was abolished with constitutional reforms in the early 19th century. Today the old palace area houses a fantastic local market which sits along the riverside.

For lunch, we had one of my favorite Thai dishes, hoy tot! Hoy tot is an omlette mixed with fresh Thai oysters served over a bed of bean sprouts and topped with spicy chili sauce. This has been a favorite of mine for years, but I don't get the chance to enjoy it very often.

We also shared a serving of vermacelli pad Thai with big river shrimp.

Breakfast the next day was noodles at a very famous local shop. 

Whilst wandering through Wang Lang Market, the smell of fresh baked bread caught our attention. The Wang Lang Bakery has been opened since the 1970s, and is one of the most famous bakeries in all of Bangkok. The queue was already long, despite the early hour. Whenever Pinky and I travel, I always trust her intuition to find us the most amazing and delicious food to enjoy. This was no exception. I trusted that her choice was worth the wait.

https://bk.asia-city.com/restaurants/article/wang-lang-eats

A local woman who stood in the queue in front of us helped us place our order for a fresh loaf of bread stuffed with garlic. We didn't exactly know what to do, but our new local friend ordered for us.

We left the bakery happy and content with a deliciously aromatic loaf of fresh garlic bread. The bread was hot, soft, and chewy, and was honestly some of the best bread I've ever had!

I learned long ago to let Pinky choose where to eat. That girl has an amazing intuition for finding the best food.

Lunch was another bowl of noodles. The noodles were Vietnamese-style, and were served in a sweet and spicy broth with grilled pork and lots of veggies.

Now that things are slowly getting back to normal, we are gradually and carefully beginning to venture out of our home and into the wider world. 

Over the next few weeks, this blog will return to sharing my adventures in and around Bangkok.

Until then, please stay safe, stay home, and stay healthy.

COVID-19 Update #10: getting under control

Previous update HERE: https://michaeldesrosiers.blogspot.com/2020/05/covid-coronation-day-update-10.html

Things are going well in the Kingdom! There have been very few new cases of COVID-19 in the past few weeks. Currently there are some 200 people being treated in the hospital, between 0 and 10 new cases every day (most days the number is 0), and there has only been one death in the past month. Things are looking great here, thanks to the government's swift and decisive action and the willingness of the Thai people to comply with regulations designed to keep the country on track. Now, things are starting to reopen again, although the airports and borders remain closed until July.

The sad thing is, many foreign residents are stuck abroad, and have been separated from their Thai families due to border closures and visa cancellations. It's been difficult for many people.

Within the country, though, things are slowly getting back to normal. Now whenever you visit a shop or mall, you have to check in. You can do this either through a QR code-based web app or through signing in with your telephone number on a sheet of paper. That way they'll be able to inform the population if there has been a carrier of the virus somewhere they have recently visited.

Malls are back open, and gyms are slowly opening up as well (although my gym will only open for free weights and the swimming pool). Restaruants can open, though they still cannot sell alcohol, and all customers must sit two meters apart or be separated by a plastic barrier.

Domestic tourism is slated to reopen soon, which should bring a much-needed boost to the Thai economy.

The only real concern now is that a second wave will arrive once airports reopen in July.

Engagement Dinner! (800th Post)

I like to save my "centennial" posts for big adventures or major life events. This 800th post will be both, as today I start my biggest adventure yet: my 5-year girlfriend and I are now officially announcing our engagement!

Well... actually we technically got engaged about a month ago, but due to COVID-19 restrictions, we weren't able to go out to celebrate or take our engagement photos until this week.

To celebrate, we decided to head across the river to Thonburi, Bangkok's quieter twin city for a nice riverside dinner. We sort of stumbled across a narrow alleyway that looked interesting, and decided to head down it for whatever sort of meal awaited us.

It turned out to be a really nice restaurant right on the water. Because the city is still under partial lockdown, we were the only customers at the time. The staff was super attentive (there were only three people working there at the time), and treated us great. We had been their only visitors all day. Because of the lockdown, they couldn't serve their regular menu, but handed us a hand-written menu which they prepared for us to choose from. Pinky ordered, and then we set about taking some photos to celebrate our engagement.

The restaurant was located just next to the royal temple Wat Rakhang, just upriver from Wat Arun, and directly across from the Grand Palace. It was a perfect location! And due to mass closures because of the lockdown, the river was the quietest I've ever seen it. I have never known the Chaophraya River to be so still and silent or so clean! 

There were almost no boats at all on the water, and it was so quiet that we could even hear hammering from someone doing some work on the other side of the river. It's a pretty special moment that I don't think I'll ever see again.

Our meal was quite fancy! The first course was a spicy Thai salad made from tart green apples and stewed soft pork served over a bed of chili, cilantro, and tomato.

Next, we had a spicy and sour hot pot of chicken and tons of veggies which we ate over rice.

Finally, the dessert was a traditional Thai dessert made of rambutan, lychee, and longan served in a sweet syrup with slivers of ginger and young mango over crushed ice.

As for our engagement photos, here they are!

For years, Pinky told me that my one rule was that I shouldn't propose with a Ring Pop, so of course when a Ring Pop landed at my feet during the Clifton, TX Christmas parade last year, I knew I had to save it for this very moment.

And please enjoy this video clip that my fiancee made!

For those who are still following this blog and keeping up with my life after 800 posts, thank you! 

Learning Thai IV: getting back into it

It's long past time that I get serious about my Thai language studies again.

Recently this country-wide COVID-19 lockdown has shown me that just having a non-immigrant visa is not nearly enough to guarantee that I can stay in the country. Now, lots of people who are legally employeed in Thailand or are married to a Thai national have been prevented from re-entering the country due to border closures. I understand the situation, but I also would like to have a little more security if I inteed to stay in Thailand long-term. I have a few options, but both permanant residency and citizenship require at lest an intermediate Thai language proficiency.

I studied Thai actively by myself for a few years, but the last few years were busy. I know that's just an excuse, and I know plenty of people who were fluent in Thai by year 4 or 5 in Thailand. I'm ok at speaking Thai. In fact, I'm probably better than the majority of expats who live here (many sadly never even try to learn the basics). I can have a basic conversation, and I can read well enough. I can get by. I can travel and place an order and have a basic chat with someone, but I need to get better!

A few weeks ago, I heard an episode on the Bangkok Podcast by an Australian Bangkok-based polyglot named Stu Jay Raj. At the end of the episode, the host gave a shout-out to his book. I promptly contacted Mr. Raj to buy a copy of his book, and he sent it to me directly the very next day. It's a hefty book, but it seems really promising. The book promises to be a more natural way of learning the language. 

Let's see how much it can help me with my language studies.

My Flandrensian Coat of Arms

Today, I'm really excited to share my latest honor: a coat of arms that was designed for my by the Chief Herald of Flandrensis!

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duchy_of_Flandrensis)

Flandrensis is one of the micronation projects that I've been learning about over the past few weeks while stuck inside in quarantine. A micronation is a sort of simulated country. They have varying degrees of seriousness. Flandrensis is a cool project because it's dedicated to protecting the environment, especially in Antarctica.

Over the past few weeks, I've been working with the Chief Herald to design my coat of arms. After some back-and-forth, he sent me a few designs, which we tweaked together in order to make something that really represents me. And here it is; my Flandrensian (Flandreniaan) Coat of Arms:

Flandrensis Coat of Arms

It has been a fantastic process to work with the Chief Herald to develop my personal Coat of Arm! And I would like to take you along with me on the journey that I took in developing my coat of arms. In heraldic language, my arms are:

 

Tierced per pall reversed, first Azure three fleurs-de-lys Or, on the fess point a white rose of York proper; second, barruly undy of eighteen Argent, Gules, Argent and Azure; third, Sinople, a three-headed elephant Erawan Argent armed Or. The mantling Argent doubled Gules. Upon the barred helmet Cendrée, a wreath Argent and Gules, the dextrochere of the Archangel Michael proper vested Or holding a sword Argent surrounded with a garland of roses Gules. Motto “A coeur vaillant rien d’impossible”

The development of my coat of arms:

1) Original draft of the design 

2) Design utilizing green on the field behind the elephant instead of red in order to distinguish my arms 

3) Design flipped so that the Side of Honor would display my heritage

   

The arms depict the Rose of York and a triple fleur-de-lis to represent my mixed English / French heritage. The right side of the shield depics wavy lines representing tropical waves, harkening back to my Westarctican ams but with alternating red lines. The red, white, and blue waves are patterened like the flag of Thailand, but also stands for my American nationality. The lower part of the shield shows the three-headed Erawan, or the Airavana Elephant which represents my life in Thailand. Originally the elephant was presented against a traditional red background, but the Chief Herald recommended that I instead present it against green to make my arms my own. The green can thus represent that I am a foreigner living in Thailand, but it can also be thought of representing the color of Baylor University, which ultimately led me to take my first job in Thailand!

Next, I had to decide upon a crest. The crest is the symbol that sits atop of the help on a coat of arms. At first I tested out a palm tree to represent my life in the tropics. However, the Chief Herald suggested a wreath of roses to represent my surname "of the roses". The second draft included the Arm of St. Michael wreathed in roses to represent my full name: Michael Desrosiers.

The two drafts below erroniously featured a baron's corronet. I am not a noble in Flandrensis, so the final version does not have the coronet.

                    

It's been an interresting process to develope my coat of arms with the Chief Herald. I'm thrilled with the results, and am so proud to diplay my Coat of Arms within the Grand Duchy of Flandrensis! 

Throughout this process, I've learned a lot about the rules and traditions of heraldry! It's been a wonderful process.

my official Grant of Arms from the College of Heraldry

Vexillology: Flags of Texas

Time to talk about something a little closer to home.

While Texas may have one of America's most iconic flags (it was ranked as the 2nd best flag behind New Mexico in a 2001 ranking of all of the flags of the 72 US States and Canadian Provinces), not too many people outside of the Great State know its history.

Today, I'm going to dig into the history of the flag of my home state. Let's start at the beginning and go chronologically. I'll be ignoring the "Six Flags" that flew over Texas, since they are for the most part flags of separate intependent countries (France, Spain, Mexico, etc) rather than uniquely Texan flags. Our first flag, therefore, will be the famous Gonzales Flag.

Let's go!

Come and Take It (Gonzales)

The first flag that represented a truly Texan identity was the famous Gonzales Flag, better known as the "come and take it" flag. As the Texas War of Independence was just starting, this was the first flag to unify the Texas rebels against the Mexican government. 

The Battle of Gonzales was the first skirmish in the Texas Revolution. Texas rebels refused the Mexican governor's orders to return a small bronze cannon, and as a symbol of defiance fashioned this iconic flag from a woman's wedding dress.

The Alamo Flag

An Alamo Flag hangs inside the Student Union Building at Baylor University. The bullet holes in the flag purport it to be the original Alamo flag, although it's not absolutely certain whether the Alamo Flag at the oldest university in Texas is indeed the original Alamo Flag or not.

The Alamo Flag was a hastilly-made banner thrown together to fly over the ragtag Texas army. It consists of a simple Mexican flag with the year 1824 printed in the middle in black. This is the year that the Mexican Constitution was adopted, and the rebels used it as their symbol to say that Mexico had abandoned its constitution and thus had abandoned the Texans.

This wasn't the only Mexican flag to fly over Texas, of course.

Left: the flag of the First Mexican Republic

Right: the state flag of Coahuila y Tejas, a Mexican state that encompassed what would become Texas 

      

The Zavala Flag

When the nascent Republic of Texas was drafting up flag designs to fly proudly above the new country, one of the earliest and most popular flag designs was the Zavala Flag. The following design may or may not have ever been produced as a physical flag, but this is the design chartered in notes from the original constitutional convention at Washington-on-the-Brazos.

The Zavala flag was ultimately replaced with a simplified version that kept just the lone star, a design which would eventually evolve into the Texas flag of today.

Left: The speculative design of the flag of the Republic of Texas

Right: The purported first flag of the Republic of Texas based on the Zavala Flag

        

The Burnet Flag

The first official flag of the Republic of Texas was the Burnet Flag, which utilized the simplified Zavalda flag design. The word "TEXAS" was removed, and the star was changed from white to gold to stand out more boldly. The Burnet Flag was the official flag of the republic from 1836 until it was replaced by the Lone Star Flag in 1839.

The Lone Star Flag

And that finally brings us to the iconic Lone Star Flag. Along with that of Hawaii, it's the only flag to have ever flown over an independent country as well as a US state.

The flag was adopted in 1839 as the final official flag of the Republic of Texas, and was later adopted as the official flag of the State of Texas upon its entry into the Union. The flag is based on the flag of the USA. According to the Texas Flag Code, each color of the flag has a special meaning. Blue stands for loyalty, white for purity, and red for bravery. Furthermore, the single star represents Texas unity.

It's a great flag, and extrememly popular throughout the state!

I'm not sure if any other state flags have a history as long, complicated, or interesting as that of the flag of Texas, but I'll do some digging and see what I can learn. I'll keep working on this series from time to time as long as we are still stuck home during the lockdown!

Vexillology: Old Flags

I'm back with more flags!

I'm still stuck indoors in Thailand. Even though we are almost totally COVID-19-free, the lockdowns remain in place for a little while longer. I think it's wise, but it really doesn't give me much to write about these days. Last month I wrote a series on vexillology - that is, the study of flags. Today I'm back with a new vexillology post. This time, I'm going to be writing about flags of former countries. Most of these flags are from Asian countries. I guess the old Asian countries just chose some of the more creative flag designs which I really liked!

Great Qing Empire (China)

The flag of Imperial China's last dynasty, the Qing Dynasty, flew over the country from 1634 until 1912 when the imperial government was overthrown by the KMT and the Republic of China (which now governs only the island of Taiwan). 

The flag of Qing China featured the Azure Dragon (also known as the Dragon God, and one of the four imperial symbols of China) against a field of Chinese Imperial Yellow. Mustard Yellow was the official imperial color of the Manchu people, and subsequently became viewed across Asia as a color of royalty and imperial power. 

I like this flag for the same reason that I like the flag of Bhutan... it's got a dragon on it! That's just super cool!

State of Manchukuo (Manchuria)

After China fell to the forces of the Republic of China, the Qing Emperor was installed as the Emperor of Manchukuo (also known as Manchuria), a Japanese puppet state in northeastern China that lasted from 1932 until 1945 (although a Manchukuo Government-in-Exile still exists). The flag maintained the imperial yellow field, but the canton was created bearing five bold colorful bars. The five colors of the flag symbolized country's national philosophy of the "five nations under one union".

Yellow represented the ruling Manchu people

Red = the Japanese people living in Manchuria

Blue = the Han Chinese

White = the Mongolian people

Black = the Korean people

Despite being a semi-colonial Japanese puppet state, Manchuria was actually a remarkable example of ethnic diversity in an otherwise extremely divisive region. The flag represents a beautiful ideology, and the idea of the "five nations" was echoed in the subsequent flags of the early Republic of China and the short-lived Chinese Empire (restoration).

Republic of China (1912-1928) left; Empire of China (1915-1916) right

           

West Indies Federation

The West Indies Federation was a short-lived union of several Caribbean territories of the UK that existed between 1958 and 1962. The purpose of the union was to establish a unified Commonwealth entity similar to that of Canada or Australia, although internal politics caused its swift dissolution. The country was made up of territories today encompassing: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago, Anguilla, Montserrat, the Cayman Islands, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Today, all of the aforementioned territories remain independent entities.

The union may have been doomed from the start, but the flag featured a truly beautiful design which represented the golden tropical sun reflecting off of Caribbean waves. The flag was even flown at the 1960 Olympics, although the union dissolved before it could truly become a regional power.

Republic of (South) Vietnam

The flag of South Vietnam was designed by Vietnamese Emperor Gia Long in 1890 to fly over the Empire of Vietnam. After the Vietnamese Empire fell, the same flag was used as the flag of the unified State of Vietnam from 1949 until the breakaway of Communist North Vietnam in 1955. It was subsequently used by South Vietnam until its collapse in 1975. Needless to say, this simple yellow and red flag is steeped in history, having represented three distinct Vietnamese states.

The flag is still flown by the Vietnamese diaspora, especially those who oppose the current Communist regime, and I've even seen it flying myself over the Vietnamese supermarket in my hometown in Texas! Today, it's seen as a symbol of the Vietnamese people who currently live in exile in the United States.

The old Vietnamese flag's field of gold represents Imperial power, similar to those flags of Manchuria and China. The three red stripes represents the three distinct political, geographical, and cultural regions of Vietnam: North, Central, and South. The triple bar in the flag also serves as a stylized Chinese character "☰", which means "South" (south of China, that is. The ☰ symbol historically served as the Chinese name of Vietnam).

The flags symbolism and history, as well as the powerful meaning that it represents earns it a spot on this list. In my home state of Texas, Vietnamese is the third-most spoken native language (after English and Spanish, of course). It no longer represents a recognized country, however this flag still holds a really important place in the culture of the Vietnamese diaspora.

Left: Flag of the Empire of Vietnam (Japanese puppet state; 1945)

Right: Flag of the Chochinchina Autonomous Republic (temporary predecessor state to South Vietnam; 1946)

Kingdom of Siam (Thailand)

I've said many times that Thailand shouldn't have changed its flag. The current flag is great, but the old flag had an elephant on it! Thailand's current red, white, and blue flag was adopted in 1917, many years before the kingdom changed its name to "Thailand" in 1939 during the country's push towards westernization.

Although the flag was changed to its now-iconic symbol of Thailand, the original elephant flag of Siam was a beautiful, unique, and exotic ensign. I'm a huge fan of the old Siamese flag, and I even have a t-shirt with this design printed on it which I'm quite fond of wearing. It's more unique than the current Thai flag (which, again, is still a great flag), and I kind of wish I could see the elephant flying more often. The Siamese elephant does, however, appear occasionally as part of the Thai naval ensign which still flies over the Navy HQ and various naval ships throughout Thailand as well as the diplomatic ensign which flies over Thai embassies and consulates worldwide. 

Ambassadorial flag of Thailand (left); Naval Ensign of Thailand (right).